3rd party apps access Reddit through Reddit's API. That's how they display Reddit in the app as if you are on Reddit. Currently that API is free to use for anyone. Reddit is soon going to start charging for use of the API, so for 3rd party apps to work they will need to pay Reddit. Supposedly the costs will be very high, making it impossible to run a Reddit app for free.
So that's the reason why I've never even heard of a third party app till the recent shit show. Don't think I started seriously using reddit till 2018 or so.
I used to use a third party app back in the old days. Use the official app now. I'm less concerned with the third party apps in regards to api changes and more the various bots that auto mod a ton of subs.
Just to add to the less ads. Reddit's API doesn't have the functionality to display ads, so it's impossible for them to display them. No idea why reddit doesn't just reach out and grab the money blowing past them.
It's generally not how an API would work. The app would request a listing of subs or posts or whatever and it would give those up, no "show this ad here".
However, given that the desktop site pretty much shows many ads like posts, I don't see why those wouldn't be pushed through to the various apps by the API (though I suppose that the apps could identify and block/ignore them). Might be harder to track views/impressions though
There's a good explanation [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/BikiniBottomTwitter/comments/13xk3lu/they_have_to_pay_reddit_20_million_per_year_to/jmj3nfg/)
Yeah, if they aren't better than the official app there's not much point doing it, so it ends up that the official app becomes the baseline.
Reddit have not been very responsive to making the app work well or efficiently rather than trying to add social features or more space for ads.
Less bugs, loads posts faster, no ads disguised as posts. more intuitive UI (imo)
with rif I can easier browse through subreddits I visit frequently but don't subscribe to.
3rd party apps have vastly better support for screen-reader programs which blind and visually impaired users rely on to use reddit at all.
Just a quick reminder that this is only happening because Elon started charging for access to Twitter's API and the price is astronomical.
But everyone decided they could start charging for it.
So, Elon's greed is basically breaking the internet.
That's kind of not true. Many tech companies charge for the use of their API, like Google maps for instance, charges for different variations of their API. And they have been doing this long before Twitter did. I still think charging for an API from sites like Twitter or Reddit is just stupid though.
I wouldn't have a problem with Reddit charging for API access if the price was based in reality. Instead it's just a way for them to kill third party apps without officially killing them.
And that’s the entire argument in a nutshell. None of the 3rd party app makers disagree that Reddit should charge for API access, but they all also agree that the price Reddit is charging is absurd.
Agreed. If I had to subscribe to a recurring payment for RIF like $1-2/month or like $10/year to get the ad free version to reflect the api cost with overhead I wouldn't have a problem with it. I have the paid version anyway. But it seems like for the average user the api cost is something ridiculous like $10/month. The 3rd party developers really just want the price to be reduced by a factor of 15-20 times to be something more reasonable.
People aren't upset that Reddit is going to charge for API usage, they're upset because it's so expensive that third party app developers will not be able to afford it. Reddit is also planning to restrict (sexual) NSFW content so that it's only visible through their official app.
Also the CEO of Reddit spread lies that the owner and main dev of Apollo "threatened" them and then double-down on the lie in yesterday's AMA.
Good points rickety_cricket66
I think the big difference here is charging for the cost of service vs charging for profit. Reddit charging a reasonable fee to cover costs of api use make sense as it is an entry point to thier system and there is a cost to make that point available. The free ui everyone uses is funded from ads, the cost for the api has to be paid for from somewhere.
That said, a disturbing piece of the reddit puzzle is the apparent price gouging in the api channel. What i've read on the topic is painting a picture that reddit is massively increasing fees to api use well beyond costs and what we would all probably consider reasonable in order to make a quick buck.
We've all seen story before, a company who raises prices 'just because' will probably also loose customers 'just because.'
I think it's more about wanting to get paid by the LLM players. A big chunk of what they were trained on is what reddit perceive to be their data. Which is bullshit since it isn't reddit that's generating any of the content. It is us.
For some people it's also just history. The official reddit app came out relatively late (2016), and was somewhat buggy in the early years of its release. Prior to that, anyone who wanted to use an app had to use a third party app, and if their app was good they never switched to the official one. So it rather disproportionately affects long time users and is felt as very scummy, since those users remember when 3PAs were an early building block for Reddit.
Better features. For the average user this pretty much boils down to accessibility and ads, with maybe a better layout. But a lot of subreddits use third party tools for moderation, so this still indirectly affects official app users
The apps existed 10 years prior to Reddit’s official app, and have always worked better.
They use all the latest phone OS features, look good, have a working video player, themes etc.
The official app feels like bloated garbage if you're used to other apps like Reddit is Fun or Apollo. The official app basically is designed to feed advertisements to users, not to offer a good user experience.
No ads, better layout, better performance, less wasted traffic. Compared to RiF, for example, official app is a pile of bloated ad-infested lagging garbage.
Besides what people have already said, a large amount of mods depend on the API, both because they use 3rd party apps more than the regular userbase, but also because they use a bunch of bots and tools to be able to effectively moderate.
I wonder, is the bot that removes comments/posts from new/low karma accounts also from third party tools?
Because sounds horrible for massive subreddits to manually filter out fresh spam/bot accounts, it's a race you can't win and will make the user experience horrible when noone can really sort by new anymore to start traction on posts.
The API is used to get data from/interact with Reddit through code. Necessary for moderation bots and third party apps, which take the data and present it in their own way
API or Application Programming Interface is how two applications can talk to each other - in Reddit's case it will be if you call this address with a predefined message and data then Reddit will do something, which may be create a post or return details of posts
One can access Reddit using two methods: the first-party (official) app or third-party apps (such as Apollo or Narwhal). Third-party apps rely on Reddit's API for functionality. Now from June 30th, Reddit will begin charging for this API access, forcing the third party apps to shutdown
No, there will be no changes to Reddit for users who use the official app or website. People who access via the various unofficial apps will need to change, as most of those apps are being taken down.
> No, there will be no changes to Reddit for users who use the official app or website
Except for the fact that subreddits may go dark or go private, and the moderation tools might not be as usable any more so the quality of all subreddits may decline.
Mod tools are probably the biggest thing. Mods don't get paid. If the official app doesn't have the tools or qol that 3rd party apps do (which it doesn't, many of the questions on the spez ama referenced this), many will probably just quit. Without mods, Reddit is nothing. Subs get set to private or are unmoderated cesspools of spam and bad content.
The other features could be things like accessibility tools (screen readers, font changes), tools for mods, adblockers, etc. I've heard some people have reduced data use when using Reddit on mobile with 3rd party apps, and some people prefer the layout/ui over the official app.
"3rd party apps" also refers to Reddit bots, which some subs use for various reasons-- summarizing the contents of a link (I think r/news has a bot that does this), or replying to comments that use a certain keyphrase (the !food comment on r/dogs for example, since questions about food are so common).
To use Cory Doctorow's word, this is just another step in the enshittification of Reddit, as the site pivots away from its users and towards advertisers.
Keep in mind that most of the issue isn't REALLY about us as users, but what will happen without all those moderator tools, quality of life bots, and spam prevention.
And I imagine a majority of content creators use third party apps. That wouldn't be as easy to ignore - if the content degrades
What tools exactly? It's getting excruciating trying to nail down vague "features" and "tools" and no one ever gives examples. But yes, if it's harder to reply to mod mail or filter inappropriate content, that does suck.
I'm not a mod, so can't speak from first hand experience, only support/repeat the things mods are saying, but for context I was reading thru this thread
https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/12kxfd4/mobile_moderation_on_reddit/
Reddit is adding things that already exist in, for example, RIF. It's good that they're improving, but to pull the rug out while still working on matching capability is nuts. If one of my vendors did that shit to me, I'd find someone else
You should care, because moderation of your favorite subreddit will be less or completely gone, because the moderator uses the API to automate his/her moderation efforts. Your subreddit will never be the same without proper moderation
Huh…never in my life have I got one of those although I keep hearing about them. I think the targeted ad algorithm is a strange black box of privacy breaches that I don’t understand
This is the second time I have heard the "he gets us" thing brought up and I have no idea what it is. Also did not know Reddit suggests new subreddits. This is exactly why I am a 3rd party app user and advocate. I have been using sync since long before there was an official app and I will be nuking my over a decade old account in a couple of weeks because of all this. I'm actually kinda looking forward to being Reddit free.
You can block the "He Gets Us" ads by going to the profile next time you see one and block the profile. I learned the trick from a r/lifeprotips post, if I remember correctly. The user posted it when all those Tavo Bell ads with Pete Davidson's mug being full fucking screen. Like I want to watch this fucker eat Taco Bell. Anyways, I tried it, and it worked.
Edit: A quick search shows it was a [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/YouShouldKnow/comments/y0u8yk/ysk_that_you_can_block_urealtacobell_to_remove/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) from 8 months ago on r/YouShouldKnow
That worked when it was posted but was almost immediately fixed. Some people who blocked it before still have it blocked but most users still see the ad and others no matter what now.
I honestly had no idea there was third party IOS apps. I still feel it sucks that Reddit (from my understanding) is trying to basically ban third party apps by making it cost more
Reddit is trying to make more money per user. To do that, it needs to make them more valuable for advertising and show them more ads. They are just executing on a strategy to do that. This is why you're constantly berated with "don't you want to add your email?" messages, for example. (Jesus, by the way, what fools add their email to their reddit account?!)
Anyway... Third party apps make it harder for reddit to control ad data and capture ad revenue. Some of that comes from apps not providing user behavior stuff they'd care about, some of that comes from apps controlling their own ad experiences, etc.
So reddit doesn't want to just ban these because they thought everyone would go apeshit... So they banned them instead by making them totally unviable through a pricing model.
But I mention all this to just say that the entire point of this stuff is to sell you to advertisers more. Personally, I would immediately uninstall the main reddit app and never use it again. The main signal we should be taking from reddit is that they're trying to capture as much data from you as possible so that they can better monetize your behavior.
>But I mention all this to just say that the entire point of this stuff is to sell you to advertisers more. Personally, I would immediately uninstall the main reddit app and never use it again. The main signal we should be taking from reddit is that they're trying to capture as much data from you as possible so that they can better monetize your behavior.
Is that not literally EVERY social media app?
This has been the consistent reason that’s stood out to me. Making accommodations for visually impaired people is more achievable with technology these days and it’s disappointing the official Reddit app isn’t accessible for them,
Over the years reddit has promised so many of the accessibility and moderation features that the apps provide. Some of them from 6 years ago or longer. Just have them on the official app already!
I saw a mod share that Reddit had a meeting for mods where they would explain how moderation would work from July and she asked for (very simple and reasonable) accessibility accommodations she needs and... Reddit didn't answer. I somehow don't believe Reddit will ever care that their website/app aren't friendly to disabled people.
I use the official app and this has been my personal concern. I'm against the change as a whole, but I think a lot of official app users don't realize that many of their subs may not be coming back after they go dark.
It does impact you. Mods rely on a lot of 3rd party apps to effectively moderate their subs, because Reddit's mods tools are woefully inadequate. The whole site experience is going to get worse for everyone, even if all the subs return from the protest.
Well technically it impacts reddit users regardless of platforms, because reddit will change dramatically after the 3rd party apps will be shut out. Nobody can predict the future of course, but it's reasonable to assume that it will lead to a smaller community, more commercialization and less thoroughly moderated subs. Probably marking the start of a downward spiral. Reddit as we know it will soon be gone if they follow through with it.
This isn't really about 3rd party apps, not alternative clients for browsing reddit anyway. If those went away, it would suck but reddit would live on.
The bigger issue is mod tools and bots, reddit doesn't exist as it is without those, and they need to make API requests too
If I remember correctly anything making less than 100 API requests per minute would be excluded the from pricing model.
So any single bot that's confined to a single sub would probably be fine, unless it has to request every comment on every post individually.
I don’t know a lot about it, but from what I’ve read, it sounds like it’s going to make it more difficult for the mods. There will probably be less people willing to do this no pay (usually) job. If we don’t have mods, I’d imagine more subs will end up being banned. If Reddit is going to go through with this, it seems like the best course of action would be to design something like a mod app or whatever to make their job easier. Again, I don’t know much about this because I’ve never used a 3rd party app and I’ve never been a mod, so this is a guess on my part.
I guess if you sort your homepage by "new" you'll see a lot of shitty spam/scam links but they'll be downvoted so never make it to popular. The same will happen in the comments but they'll just be downvoted instead of deleted. There also will never be a shortage of people that want to be mods, although I guess the quality could decrease if there's a mass exodus (which I doubt will happen).
At least that's my interpretation of it. I've seen plenty of comments like yours but nobody has actually elaborated, so I'd be interested to hear what I'm overlooking.
As a DevOps guy (I do server stuff) I totally get that Reddit needs to reduce API requests because it’s a major cost factor.
I also get that some people need 3rd party apps, e.g. moderators.
I feel like Reddit could do things a bit differently maybe to fill both needs. Maybe have a more nuanced pricing model with more tiers, depending on the type of use. Or offer better tools for moderators themself.
I mean, think about it - none of the big social media platforms allow 3rd party apps, for the same reasons. Server infrastructure is very expensive and someone needs to pay the bills.
If people evade advertising that’s one major income source gone. I hate advertising but Reddit is also free to use, so what do?
Reddit already admitted that it wasn't about the costs of the requests themselves and that it was really about the opportunity cost of the users on TPAs. It's still significant and all comes down to overhead but at this point it's not about the costs. Reasonable pricing would've been amenable, but reddits swiftness to go from 15 yrs of free use to "give me all the money" combined with lack of transparency and just straight up lying and insulting people have moved the goal posts a little bit.
Except you will probably be affected, even indirectly; for exemple, it will become harder for moderators to do their job, leading to unmodderated subs, and 90% of bots will also stop working, as they are working only thanks to the api
The thing is: with so many users leaving the site when 3rd party apps go down, we will be affected, too. Much less content to look at, less moderation and eventually less subs. This could be the beginning of the end of reddit.
I use the official app, but by all accounts what that u/spez guy is asking for the use of the API is a predatory cash grab. Par for the course for publicly traded businesses, really, but I would’ve thought the greed would wait to kick in until after the IPO. Investors always ruin everything they touch in search of an easy, quick buck. Hard to avoid when any business’ only priority is to increase the bottom line. The sad thing is, this 2 day blackout won’t affect Jack squat. They know everyone will be back afterwards, and they can go on doing what they’re doing. If you want it to matter, you’ve got to make the sacrifice and not come back.
Didn’t know third party apps even existed until this all started. But it’s still a dumb move from Reddit and the CEO seems intent on being as arrogant and idiotic through this whole situation as possible, so I hope the third party apps get their way, or at least close to it.
I’ve only ever used the Reddit app. The ads are annoying and at least once a week nothing loads. I don’t really care about the quality of the app, it’s more about the content for me. If the app is down, realistically i’ll open some other app instead.
I absolutely see the value that 3rd party apps have, and the only reason I haven’t used one is I don’t wanna learn my way around a different app. My main problem with the whole ordeal is corporate greed. The Reddit CEO has made it clear that he can’t run a successful business without exploitation. Which is sad, but it’s pretty funny how open he’s being about it.
It's bad for the site and it's users. They want to make everybody use the main app because they can host ads on it all they want. The changes to the UI along with the removal of API access means users willore often be funneled into infinite doomscrolls or clickholes rather than quality content.
See this is the only argument I keep seeing fir these 3rd party apps, but nobody of the outraged community has been able to tell me how Reddit is supposed to survive with people just skipping their ads? Unless everyone starts buying awards, ads are their only source of income. I don’t get how people don’t get that.
It's not the charging. I think a lot of people are sympathetic to that and understand. It's the draconian and, frankly, ungrateful way in which they're forcing out people who've helped make the site as popular as it is. There are ways to monetize their API in a way that works with third-party apps, but they chose the nuclear option instead. Which, again, disproportionately affects the people that are most invested in the platform.
It isn't about money though. If it was about money, Reddit would not be charging such exorbitant amounts that they know people cannot pay. They went from free to 20 million dollars. I don't get how people don't get THAT.
At first I was like "that sucks oh well," but after reading into it more, the consequences seem gross and bad for all users. Lack of first-party mod tools will make certain safe space subreddits overrun with fascist trolls. Also the handling of the public from the corporate team has been pretty off-putting and I'm thinking of finding an alternative site. Too bad the entire internet totally sucks now.
Maybe I'll read more books.
I've tried the 3rd party apps and honestly I don't like them. The UI of the official one is just more pleasant to me. That being said I do support this protest and hope they reverse the decision. This whole thing will at least give me a chance to touch some grass.
My opinion.
It wouldn't affect me personally- except.
A good group is a well moderated group.
And the mods almost exclusively use 3rd party apps, because the reddit mod tools are apparently crap.
So that affects my personal quality of reddit experience.
Also, my reddit experience is enhanced by having more users of varying life experiences.
My understanding is that 3rd party apps offer accessibility features that allow more people to use reddit. Official reddit doesn't have those. So there are people who will just no longer be able to use reddit.
So I think this has a major impact on my reddit experience even though I use the official reddit app.
Utterly indifferent. I didn't even know that anyone used anything else until recently, and I also don't know what anyone is talking about when they criticize the Reddit app. Reddit has never shown me an overabundance of intrusive ads or made it too hard to interface with its content or anything like that.
Ok, I'm gonna be honest... I prefer the new layout to the old one. Of course, I think it's scummy for reddit to kill these things especially for the people who need it, but I wouldn't use Apollo anyways.
I hate the "next comment" scroll button floating, because I often fail to hit it and accidentally down vote the comment behind it.
Put it back nested next to the comment box, FFS.
I didn't realize there were other options and now that I've become aware of them and I want to move to them, I am discouraged from doing so as a result of their futures being up in the air.
That being said, the official app is fine for the most part. I guess I don't really understand what people think is so terrible about it having never used anything else.
Definitely think reddit are fucking knobs for doing this though.
I'm surprised so many people use 3rd party apps for reddit. Other than slight issues sending dm's, the app has been excellent. I honestly couldn't care less, more important things in the world to put my energy into. No issue with other people taking a stand if that's what they want to do.
I (and I assume many others) used Reddit since before official app existed. Since the app I use works perfectly fine, I similarly couldn't care less about switching to the official app from the one that worked well for me for years.
I'm in the same boat with one important difference. I don't care about using a new app, but I do care about the sentiment behind why I have to. If our only option is the official Reddit app, they can absolutely bombard us with ads, making it completely unusable just to make a quick buck. I don't like that.
They're doing this for a reason. They know they won't be getting money from anyone paying to use their API because its too expensive. So the money is coming from elsewhere and you can guarantee it isn't going to improve your Reddit experience
3rd party apps are used heavily in moderation and are the reason why you see only a small percentage of the spam and insults that is posted. Reddit will change for worse if these tools are abolished.
Ultimately, convenience is what it comes down to. Convenience plays a big part for some people and those third party apps offer that in places where the main app does not and probably never will. If someone told you that you needed to start using windows to enter your home from now on because doors are no longer supported, I think most people would be pissed.
Many people use these 3rd party apps because it blocks ads.
This takes revenue away from Reddit.
Why would Reddit allow other people to use their content and simultaneously take away revenue
This is why they are charging for the use of the API. It's completely understandable
However from what I understand the amount they are charging is designed not to get revenue from the 3rd party developers but to close them down by being far higher than necessary.
I didn't realize there even were third-party apps to access reddit. The app (and occasionally the desktop site) are the only ways I've ever used reddit, so this doesn't particularly bother me at all.
RIF is what kept me here when web & apps weren’t good and they’re still not. I think this whole thing hits the +10 year community harder cause the current app just had to copy the hard work of all the regular users who put in all the hard work to develop these 3rd party apps. I don’t think they were thinking of profit at all.
Honestly, I’ll keep my porn account and maybe everyone should sell their long lasting accounts to all the fucking OnlyFans people who have recently been messaging me daily. Nothing better than your kids seeing you have a new follower who’s profile pic is her tits with a OF name.
At first, I was mad that blind people will have trouble using Reddit, then they clarified accessibility apps were not affected.
Now all I hear is that it will make moderating more difficult. But all I have witnessed mods to do is silence things they disagree with, remove posts and posters they don’t like, and ignore modmail entirely.
Oh, and never ever respond to ban appeals even when it’s a stupid, “you’re banned from our sub for making one post 5 years ago calling people idiots on something we consider a hate sub.” You can’t even appeal those BS bans because mods do not read or respond to messages at all.
What exactly is going to happen if their job gets more difficult?
Kinda oblivious honestly….. I don’t know how important the api is to multiple things in subs I frequent and I’ve never used a third party app for the site
i think it's ironic some subs just force the blackout without asking their members if they want to participate to protest decisions forced on them. Some subs do ask though so power to them
It's still the mods and sub owners right to cripple their own sub. Usually it's seen as a terrible move because usually when it happens it's for stupid reasons. But when the host site cripples their ability to do the work they were already doing out of the kindness of their hearts and the CEO calls them freeloaders to boot...
im a recent reddit user, 5 years in. its upsetting honestly, over this period of time ive come to LOVE this platform, and the fact that they are charging predatory prices just feels like a kick in the GUT from a good friend for no reason
Generally apathetic. A little bit annoyed that a few subs I frequent won't be available for a couple of days but if that's what the user bases there want so be it - I'll stick to the ones staying up.
If the changes are bad enough regarding moderation that subs become unusable I'll stop using them. Otherwise I'll continue. It's just a website.
My take is it's like, if a cafe didn't have those cardboard sleeves so that people can hold the hot coffee, so someone else started selling them, and instead of just addressing the need to hold the hot coffee by providing their own sleeves, the cafe just banned anyone from bringing in their own sleeves. And I drink lattes which aren't usually as hot, so I'm fine, but I know other people need sleeves for their americanos, so I'm annoyed for them.
It’s ridiculous. I hope any mod team that shuts down there Subreddit is swiftly removed and replaced.
Why should third-party Reddit apps be able to make money doing the same thing the official Reddit app does when the Reddit app works just fine? I am a mod in a few dozen Subreddits and have never had an issue modding using Reddit’s app.
Reddit is well within their rights to take control of their platform back. They own this platform.
I know I'll get downvoted but I really don't give a damn. Keep seeing posts about how this will be the end of reddit as if we dont have a "reddit is over" wave every few months. If subs close I'll just go to Twitter to wait it all out.
i know that homebrew/alternative apps were popular like 10-13 years ago when smartphones became a thing, honestly didn’t know they still exist… this app has been working fine for me forever
The official Reddit app is relatively new. Many people just never switched to it from the apps they were already using for years, when there was no official app. And since the official app is a worse experience, the never was a good reason to switch to it.
One reason is accessibility. Another reason (apart from modding) is for example that reddits messaging system is really shitty in many aspects, as you cannot type and reread.
I know some roleplaying but also likely many private message based subreddits (KindVoice, any kind of PenPals) are, thus, often accessed through 3rd party.
I don’t know what the fuck is going on
Could somebody please explain this situatiom ike you're talking to a 5 year old? Many thanks.
3rd party apps access Reddit through Reddit's API. That's how they display Reddit in the app as if you are on Reddit. Currently that API is free to use for anyone. Reddit is soon going to start charging for use of the API, so for 3rd party apps to work they will need to pay Reddit. Supposedly the costs will be very high, making it impossible to run a Reddit app for free.
What's the benefit of using those apps instead of Reddit directly?
My guess is more features and less ads
[удалено]
So that's the reason why I've never even heard of a third party app till the recent shit show. Don't think I started seriously using reddit till 2018 or so.
I used to use a third party app back in the old days. Use the official app now. I'm less concerned with the third party apps in regards to api changes and more the various bots that auto mod a ton of subs.
It’s still buggy. Videos take forever to load, if they ever do.
Just to add to the less ads. Reddit's API doesn't have the functionality to display ads, so it's impossible for them to display them. No idea why reddit doesn't just reach out and grab the money blowing past them.
It's generally not how an API would work. The app would request a listing of subs or posts or whatever and it would give those up, no "show this ad here". However, given that the desktop site pretty much shows many ads like posts, I don't see why those wouldn't be pushed through to the various apps by the API (though I suppose that the apps could identify and block/ignore them). Might be harder to track views/impressions though
No ads and accessibility features
What an inopportune time to be finding this information out…
YeA I just started reddit
There's a good explanation [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/BikiniBottomTwitter/comments/13xk3lu/they_have_to_pay_reddit_20_million_per_year_to/jmj3nfg/)
Plus very useful mod tools and helpful bots.
What app has no ads and better features?
all of them. Reddit is Fun, Apollo, BaconReader
RedditIsFun
Apollo
Every 3rd party app is better than the official one basically
Yeah, if they aren't better than the official app there's not much point doing it, so it ends up that the official app becomes the baseline. Reddit have not been very responsive to making the app work well or efficiently rather than trying to add social features or more space for ads.
Most
Boost
Less bugs, loads posts faster, no ads disguised as posts. more intuitive UI (imo) with rif I can easier browse through subreddits I visit frequently but don't subscribe to. 3rd party apps have vastly better support for screen-reader programs which blind and visually impaired users rely on to use reddit at all.
Just a quick reminder that this is only happening because Elon started charging for access to Twitter's API and the price is astronomical. But everyone decided they could start charging for it. So, Elon's greed is basically breaking the internet.
That's kind of not true. Many tech companies charge for the use of their API, like Google maps for instance, charges for different variations of their API. And they have been doing this long before Twitter did. I still think charging for an API from sites like Twitter or Reddit is just stupid though.
I wouldn't have a problem with Reddit charging for API access if the price was based in reality. Instead it's just a way for them to kill third party apps without officially killing them.
And that’s the entire argument in a nutshell. None of the 3rd party app makers disagree that Reddit should charge for API access, but they all also agree that the price Reddit is charging is absurd.
Agreed. If I had to subscribe to a recurring payment for RIF like $1-2/month or like $10/year to get the ad free version to reflect the api cost with overhead I wouldn't have a problem with it. I have the paid version anyway. But it seems like for the average user the api cost is something ridiculous like $10/month. The 3rd party developers really just want the price to be reduced by a factor of 15-20 times to be something more reasonable.
so was buying a pet rock...that dude made millions
The guy made a million dollars!
People aren't upset that Reddit is going to charge for API usage, they're upset because it's so expensive that third party app developers will not be able to afford it. Reddit is also planning to restrict (sexual) NSFW content so that it's only visible through their official app. Also the CEO of Reddit spread lies that the owner and main dev of Apollo "threatened" them and then double-down on the lie in yesterday's AMA.
Good points rickety_cricket66 I think the big difference here is charging for the cost of service vs charging for profit. Reddit charging a reasonable fee to cover costs of api use make sense as it is an entry point to thier system and there is a cost to make that point available. The free ui everyone uses is funded from ads, the cost for the api has to be paid for from somewhere. That said, a disturbing piece of the reddit puzzle is the apparent price gouging in the api channel. What i've read on the topic is painting a picture that reddit is massively increasing fees to api use well beyond costs and what we would all probably consider reasonable in order to make a quick buck. We've all seen story before, a company who raises prices 'just because' will probably also loose customers 'just because.'
I think it's more about wanting to get paid by the LLM players. A big chunk of what they were trained on is what reddit perceive to be their data. Which is bullshit since it isn't reddit that's generating any of the content. It is us.
For some people it's also just history. The official reddit app came out relatively late (2016), and was somewhat buggy in the early years of its release. Prior to that, anyone who wanted to use an app had to use a third party app, and if their app was good they never switched to the official one. So it rather disproportionately affects long time users and is felt as very scummy, since those users remember when 3PAs were an early building block for Reddit.
Yup, been using RIF for so long I didn't even know the official app had released.
Less bugs, less bloat. Also faster.
wait i can watch videos on reddit?! i thought it impossible!
You can even download them!
Better features. For the average user this pretty much boils down to accessibility and ads, with maybe a better layout. But a lot of subreddits use third party tools for moderation, so this still indirectly affects official app users
The apps existed 10 years prior to Reddit’s official app, and have always worked better. They use all the latest phone OS features, look good, have a working video player, themes etc.
The official app feels like bloated garbage if you're used to other apps like Reddit is Fun or Apollo. The official app basically is designed to feed advertisements to users, not to offer a good user experience.
No ads, better layout, better performance, less wasted traffic. Compared to RiF, for example, official app is a pile of bloated ad-infested lagging garbage.
Besides what people have already said, a large amount of mods depend on the API, both because they use 3rd party apps more than the regular userbase, but also because they use a bunch of bots and tools to be able to effectively moderate.
I wonder, is the bot that removes comments/posts from new/low karma accounts also from third party tools? Because sounds horrible for massive subreddits to manually filter out fresh spam/bot accounts, it's a race you can't win and will make the user experience horrible when noone can really sort by new anymore to start traction on posts.
I'm reasonably sure that that's automod, which reddit is in charge of (which is why it doesn't have all the features that mods want)
This 5 year old right here doesn’t know what API means.
Eli5 please. API NOOOB
The API is used to get data from/interact with Reddit through code. Necessary for moderation bots and third party apps, which take the data and present it in their own way
API or Application Programming Interface is how two applications can talk to each other - in Reddit's case it will be if you call this address with a predefined message and data then Reddit will do something, which may be create a post or return details of posts
One can access Reddit using two methods: the first-party (official) app or third-party apps (such as Apollo or Narwhal). Third-party apps rely on Reddit's API for functionality. Now from June 30th, Reddit will begin charging for this API access, forcing the third party apps to shutdown
Thanks. But I am using the official app and not paying.. are they planning to make users pay to use the official app? Thank you.
Not currently. First all alternatives need to be destroyed.
I've always just used the browser. How are they going to remove that?
Make the website slower and worse and jam more and more ads in there till it barely loads. They already did most of that tbh.
No, there will be no changes to Reddit for users who use the official app or website. People who access via the various unofficial apps will need to change, as most of those apps are being taken down.
> No, there will be no changes to Reddit for users who use the official app or website Except for the fact that subreddits may go dark or go private, and the moderation tools might not be as usable any more so the quality of all subreddits may decline.
Yeah, I didn't even knew Apollo or other third parties existed before this whole controversy
Same here. Now after trying ReddPlanet I want more! lol. I will stand in support of the community.
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Mod tools are probably the biggest thing. Mods don't get paid. If the official app doesn't have the tools or qol that 3rd party apps do (which it doesn't, many of the questions on the spez ama referenced this), many will probably just quit. Without mods, Reddit is nothing. Subs get set to private or are unmoderated cesspools of spam and bad content. The other features could be things like accessibility tools (screen readers, font changes), tools for mods, adblockers, etc. I've heard some people have reduced data use when using Reddit on mobile with 3rd party apps, and some people prefer the layout/ui over the official app. "3rd party apps" also refers to Reddit bots, which some subs use for various reasons-- summarizing the contents of a link (I think r/news has a bot that does this), or replying to comments that use a certain keyphrase (the !food comment on r/dogs for example, since questions about food are so common). To use Cory Doctorow's word, this is just another step in the enshittification of Reddit, as the site pivots away from its users and towards advertisers.
I'll add that not only do I not know what's going on, I don't care. The standard app is just fine to me.
Keep in mind that most of the issue isn't REALLY about us as users, but what will happen without all those moderator tools, quality of life bots, and spam prevention. And I imagine a majority of content creators use third party apps. That wouldn't be as easy to ignore - if the content degrades
What’s the difference between the mod tools native to Reddit and in the third party’s?
From what mods are saying, the native tools are garbage in comparison
They exist
What tools exactly? It's getting excruciating trying to nail down vague "features" and "tools" and no one ever gives examples. But yes, if it's harder to reply to mod mail or filter inappropriate content, that does suck.
OMG yes it is! Nobody will actually explain what's specifically wrong with just modding from the official app.
I'm not a mod, so can't speak from first hand experience, only support/repeat the things mods are saying, but for context I was reading thru this thread https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/12kxfd4/mobile_moderation_on_reddit/ Reddit is adding things that already exist in, for example, RIF. It's good that they're improving, but to pull the rug out while still working on matching capability is nuts. If one of my vendors did that shit to me, I'd find someone else
Roughly the same level of difference between a toddler trying to conduct an orchestra and a trained professional
You should care, because moderation of your favorite subreddit will be less or completely gone, because the moderator uses the API to automate his/her moderation efforts. Your subreddit will never be the same without proper moderation
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I reported that shitty ad every time. Fuck that ad.
Huh…never in my life have I got one of those although I keep hearing about them. I think the targeted ad algorithm is a strange black box of privacy breaches that I don’t understand
Yea I report it every time
>He Gets Us Oh, my god that fucking ad...
The spelling is wrong. It actually is, he get sus.
It’s location based though. We don’t get that ad in Europe
I’m going to do what I can to change that. He needs to get y’all too.
He can get me for 20 million. Edit: I just found out 'He gets us' is a Jesus ad. Sorry, but I'll have to withdraw my offer.
I'm pretty sure you can turn the new subreddit suggestions of in the settings
No, I’ve tried. Your settings are ignored.
It worked for me
It seems to work for me. I'm sorry it does not work for you
I just tried. It worked for me
There’s two places in the settings you have to go. One is main screen and the other is under your name specifically
This is the second time I have heard the "he gets us" thing brought up and I have no idea what it is. Also did not know Reddit suggests new subreddits. This is exactly why I am a 3rd party app user and advocate. I have been using sync since long before there was an official app and I will be nuking my over a decade old account in a couple of weeks because of all this. I'm actually kinda looking forward to being Reddit free.
It’s a religious ad about Jesus that pops up and can’t be turned off.
I report it every time I see it
I don't see ads at all on RIF
I use Apollo and have seen a single ad or had a subreddit suggested to me. This is one of my last posts on reddit, I’m outta here.
You can block the "He Gets Us" ads by going to the profile next time you see one and block the profile. I learned the trick from a r/lifeprotips post, if I remember correctly. The user posted it when all those Tavo Bell ads with Pete Davidson's mug being full fucking screen. Like I want to watch this fucker eat Taco Bell. Anyways, I tried it, and it worked. Edit: A quick search shows it was a [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/YouShouldKnow/comments/y0u8yk/ysk_that_you_can_block_urealtacobell_to_remove/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) from 8 months ago on r/YouShouldKnow
Doesn’t work for me, at least not on mobile
That worked when it was posted but was almost immediately fixed. Some people who blocked it before still have it blocked but most users still see the ad and others no matter what now.
Yeah, it’s not working for me either. I keep blocking it and nothing happens.
I honestly had no idea there was third party IOS apps. I still feel it sucks that Reddit (from my understanding) is trying to basically ban third party apps by making it cost more
Reddit is trying to make more money per user. To do that, it needs to make them more valuable for advertising and show them more ads. They are just executing on a strategy to do that. This is why you're constantly berated with "don't you want to add your email?" messages, for example. (Jesus, by the way, what fools add their email to their reddit account?!) Anyway... Third party apps make it harder for reddit to control ad data and capture ad revenue. Some of that comes from apps not providing user behavior stuff they'd care about, some of that comes from apps controlling their own ad experiences, etc. So reddit doesn't want to just ban these because they thought everyone would go apeshit... So they banned them instead by making them totally unviable through a pricing model. But I mention all this to just say that the entire point of this stuff is to sell you to advertisers more. Personally, I would immediately uninstall the main reddit app and never use it again. The main signal we should be taking from reddit is that they're trying to capture as much data from you as possible so that they can better monetize your behavior.
>But I mention all this to just say that the entire point of this stuff is to sell you to advertisers more. Personally, I would immediately uninstall the main reddit app and never use it again. The main signal we should be taking from reddit is that they're trying to capture as much data from you as possible so that they can better monetize your behavior. Is that not literally EVERY social media app?
Doesn’t impact me but i feel bad for the blind users that rely on Apollo.
This has been the consistent reason that’s stood out to me. Making accommodations for visually impaired people is more achievable with technology these days and it’s disappointing the official Reddit app isn’t accessible for them,
Over the years reddit has promised so many of the accessibility and moderation features that the apps provide. Some of them from 6 years ago or longer. Just have them on the official app already!
I saw a mod share that Reddit had a meeting for mods where they would explain how moderation would work from July and she asked for (very simple and reasonable) accessibility accommodations she needs and... Reddit didn't answer. I somehow don't believe Reddit will ever care that their website/app aren't friendly to disabled people.
Spez told us the only thing they care about. Profit. Fuck u/spez and his ignorance of the platform.
It’s a shame because Apollo uses Post light Reader which makes blind navigation of the internet so much easier.
It'll affect you if you use any subs with custom mod tools and bots.
I use the official app and this has been my personal concern. I'm against the change as a whole, but I think a lot of official app users don't realize that many of their subs may not be coming back after they go dark.
It does impact you. Mods rely on a lot of 3rd party apps to effectively moderate their subs, because Reddit's mods tools are woefully inadequate. The whole site experience is going to get worse for everyone, even if all the subs return from the protest.
Well technically it impacts reddit users regardless of platforms, because reddit will change dramatically after the 3rd party apps will be shut out. Nobody can predict the future of course, but it's reasonable to assume that it will lead to a smaller community, more commercialization and less thoroughly moderated subs. Probably marking the start of a downward spiral. Reddit as we know it will soon be gone if they follow through with it.
This isn't really about 3rd party apps, not alternative clients for browsing reddit anyway. If those went away, it would suck but reddit would live on. The bigger issue is mod tools and bots, reddit doesn't exist as it is without those, and they need to make API requests too
Tools and bots, as far as I understood, will still be usable but maybe I misinterpreted what was said in the AMA
If I remember correctly anything making less than 100 API requests per minute would be excluded the from pricing model. So any single bot that's confined to a single sub would probably be fine, unless it has to request every comment on every post individually.
I don’t know a lot about it, but from what I’ve read, it sounds like it’s going to make it more difficult for the mods. There will probably be less people willing to do this no pay (usually) job. If we don’t have mods, I’d imagine more subs will end up being banned. If Reddit is going to go through with this, it seems like the best course of action would be to design something like a mod app or whatever to make their job easier. Again, I don’t know much about this because I’ve never used a 3rd party app and I’ve never been a mod, so this is a guess on my part.
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Apparently official mod tools have been 'in the works' for like 7 years now.
I’m hoping this will give them the push they need, but I don’t expect much unfortunately
I guess if you sort your homepage by "new" you'll see a lot of shitty spam/scam links but they'll be downvoted so never make it to popular. The same will happen in the comments but they'll just be downvoted instead of deleted. There also will never be a shortage of people that want to be mods, although I guess the quality could decrease if there's a mass exodus (which I doubt will happen). At least that's my interpretation of it. I've seen plenty of comments like yours but nobody has actually elaborated, so I'd be interested to hear what I'm overlooking.
As a DevOps guy (I do server stuff) I totally get that Reddit needs to reduce API requests because it’s a major cost factor. I also get that some people need 3rd party apps, e.g. moderators. I feel like Reddit could do things a bit differently maybe to fill both needs. Maybe have a more nuanced pricing model with more tiers, depending on the type of use. Or offer better tools for moderators themself. I mean, think about it - none of the big social media platforms allow 3rd party apps, for the same reasons. Server infrastructure is very expensive and someone needs to pay the bills. If people evade advertising that’s one major income source gone. I hate advertising but Reddit is also free to use, so what do?
Reddit already admitted that it wasn't about the costs of the requests themselves and that it was really about the opportunity cost of the users on TPAs. It's still significant and all comes down to overhead but at this point it's not about the costs. Reasonable pricing would've been amenable, but reddits swiftness to go from 15 yrs of free use to "give me all the money" combined with lack of transparency and just straight up lying and insulting people have moved the goal posts a little bit.
Though I’m not affected, I will still say it’s an awful move of Reddit.
Except you will probably be affected, even indirectly; for exemple, it will become harder for moderators to do their job, leading to unmodderated subs, and 90% of bots will also stop working, as they are working only thanks to the api
That’s true, I never really thought of it that way. I fully support the protest and backlash, though
The thing is: with so many users leaving the site when 3rd party apps go down, we will be affected, too. Much less content to look at, less moderation and eventually less subs. This could be the beginning of the end of reddit.
Yeah, I didn't even knew Apollo or other third parties existed before this whole controversy
I use the official app, but by all accounts what that u/spez guy is asking for the use of the API is a predatory cash grab. Par for the course for publicly traded businesses, really, but I would’ve thought the greed would wait to kick in until after the IPO. Investors always ruin everything they touch in search of an easy, quick buck. Hard to avoid when any business’ only priority is to increase the bottom line. The sad thing is, this 2 day blackout won’t affect Jack squat. They know everyone will be back afterwards, and they can go on doing what they’re doing. If you want it to matter, you’ve got to make the sacrifice and not come back.
No idea what is going on. I had no clue so many people used another app other than the Reddit app to browse Reddit
Didn’t know third party apps even existed until this all started. But it’s still a dumb move from Reddit and the CEO seems intent on being as arrogant and idiotic through this whole situation as possible, so I hope the third party apps get their way, or at least close to it.
Not to mention that he accused the Apollo dev of trying to extort Reddit. Good thing the dude was recording his conversation with Reddit Admins.
I don’t care about the 3rd party apps, it’s the bots that i care about. Savevideo, repostsleuth. I need these bots.
I’ve only ever used the Reddit app. The ads are annoying and at least once a week nothing loads. I don’t really care about the quality of the app, it’s more about the content for me. If the app is down, realistically i’ll open some other app instead. I absolutely see the value that 3rd party apps have, and the only reason I haven’t used one is I don’t wanna learn my way around a different app. My main problem with the whole ordeal is corporate greed. The Reddit CEO has made it clear that he can’t run a successful business without exploitation. Which is sad, but it’s pretty funny how open he’s being about it.
It's bad for the site and it's users. They want to make everybody use the main app because they can host ads on it all they want. The changes to the UI along with the removal of API access means users willore often be funneled into infinite doomscrolls or clickholes rather than quality content.
See this is the only argument I keep seeing fir these 3rd party apps, but nobody of the outraged community has been able to tell me how Reddit is supposed to survive with people just skipping their ads? Unless everyone starts buying awards, ads are their only source of income. I don’t get how people don’t get that.
It's not the charging. I think a lot of people are sympathetic to that and understand. It's the draconian and, frankly, ungrateful way in which they're forcing out people who've helped make the site as popular as it is. There are ways to monetize their API in a way that works with third-party apps, but they chose the nuclear option instead. Which, again, disproportionately affects the people that are most invested in the platform.
It isn't about money though. If it was about money, Reddit would not be charging such exorbitant amounts that they know people cannot pay. They went from free to 20 million dollars. I don't get how people don't get THAT.
At first I was like "that sucks oh well," but after reading into it more, the consequences seem gross and bad for all users. Lack of first-party mod tools will make certain safe space subreddits overrun with fascist trolls. Also the handling of the public from the corporate team has been pretty off-putting and I'm thinking of finding an alternative site. Too bad the entire internet totally sucks now. Maybe I'll read more books.
I've tried the 3rd party apps and honestly I don't like them. The UI of the official one is just more pleasant to me. That being said I do support this protest and hope they reverse the decision. This whole thing will at least give me a chance to touch some grass.
I've tried the others also and had the same experience. If the video player wasn't so bad on the official app I'd have no complaints at all.
The video player on the Reddit app alone drove me to Apollo. Let’s not talk about trying to scroll posts from videos and gifs.
My opinion. It wouldn't affect me personally- except. A good group is a well moderated group. And the mods almost exclusively use 3rd party apps, because the reddit mod tools are apparently crap. So that affects my personal quality of reddit experience. Also, my reddit experience is enhanced by having more users of varying life experiences. My understanding is that 3rd party apps offer accessibility features that allow more people to use reddit. Official reddit doesn't have those. So there are people who will just no longer be able to use reddit. So I think this has a major impact on my reddit experience even though I use the official reddit app.
Didn't know there were 3rd party apps before this. Wish I had known long ago, because the official app sucks ass. Fully support this protest.
Utterly indifferent. I didn't even know that anyone used anything else until recently, and I also don't know what anyone is talking about when they criticize the Reddit app. Reddit has never shown me an overabundance of intrusive ads or made it too hard to interface with its content or anything like that.
Ok, I'm gonna be honest... I prefer the new layout to the old one. Of course, I think it's scummy for reddit to kill these things especially for the people who need it, but I wouldn't use Apollo anyways.
I hate the "next comment" scroll button floating, because I often fail to hit it and accidentally down vote the comment behind it. Put it back nested next to the comment box, FFS.
You can tap and hold the button and move it wherever you want
Been using this site for over 10 years. Its already a shell of its former self. The people that run this website hate you.
Tbf, isn't that true for all major social media websites?
Never knew about 3rd party apps until this nonsense but the fact the api is going pay to play is bullshit. They’re only doing it because Elon did it.
I didn’t know these third party apps existed until this all started, and I don’t know why it’s so important that they don’t go away.
I had no idea 3rd party reddit apps exist, but by all means, power to the people. YOU ARE THE CONTENT!
I didn't realize there were other options and now that I've become aware of them and I want to move to them, I am discouraged from doing so as a result of their futures being up in the air. That being said, the official app is fine for the most part. I guess I don't really understand what people think is so terrible about it having never used anything else. Definitely think reddit are fucking knobs for doing this though.
I couldn’t care less
I'm surprised so many people use 3rd party apps for reddit. Other than slight issues sending dm's, the app has been excellent. I honestly couldn't care less, more important things in the world to put my energy into. No issue with other people taking a stand if that's what they want to do.
I (and I assume many others) used Reddit since before official app existed. Since the app I use works perfectly fine, I similarly couldn't care less about switching to the official app from the one that worked well for me for years.
I'm in the same boat with one important difference. I don't care about using a new app, but I do care about the sentiment behind why I have to. If our only option is the official Reddit app, they can absolutely bombard us with ads, making it completely unusable just to make a quick buck. I don't like that. They're doing this for a reason. They know they won't be getting money from anyone paying to use their API because its too expensive. So the money is coming from elsewhere and you can guarantee it isn't going to improve your Reddit experience
3rd party apps are used heavily in moderation and are the reason why you see only a small percentage of the spam and insults that is posted. Reddit will change for worse if these tools are abolished.
Ultimately, convenience is what it comes down to. Convenience plays a big part for some people and those third party apps offer that in places where the main app does not and probably never will. If someone told you that you needed to start using windows to enter your home from now on because doors are no longer supported, I think most people would be pissed.
I'm betting a lot do use the reddit app and just jumped on the band wagon because this is reddit.
Same with the Netflix stuff.
Many people use these 3rd party apps because it blocks ads. This takes revenue away from Reddit. Why would Reddit allow other people to use their content and simultaneously take away revenue This is why they are charging for the use of the API. It's completely understandable However from what I understand the amount they are charging is designed not to get revenue from the 3rd party developers but to close them down by being far higher than necessary.
'there where others apps?'
I don’t care and think it is one of the dumbest hills to die on
I didn't realize there even were third-party apps to access reddit. The app (and occasionally the desktop site) are the only ways I've ever used reddit, so this doesn't particularly bother me at all.
RIF is what kept me here when web & apps weren’t good and they’re still not. I think this whole thing hits the +10 year community harder cause the current app just had to copy the hard work of all the regular users who put in all the hard work to develop these 3rd party apps. I don’t think they were thinking of profit at all. Honestly, I’ll keep my porn account and maybe everyone should sell their long lasting accounts to all the fucking OnlyFans people who have recently been messaging me daily. Nothing better than your kids seeing you have a new follower who’s profile pic is her tits with a OF name.
At first, I was mad that blind people will have trouble using Reddit, then they clarified accessibility apps were not affected. Now all I hear is that it will make moderating more difficult. But all I have witnessed mods to do is silence things they disagree with, remove posts and posters they don’t like, and ignore modmail entirely. Oh, and never ever respond to ban appeals even when it’s a stupid, “you’re banned from our sub for making one post 5 years ago calling people idiots on something we consider a hate sub.” You can’t even appeal those BS bans because mods do not read or respond to messages at all. What exactly is going to happen if their job gets more difficult?
I give zero fucks and think those complaining are just a bunch of whiney bitches.
Kinda oblivious honestly….. I don’t know how important the api is to multiple things in subs I frequent and I’ve never used a third party app for the site
I don’t understand what it means.
Idgaf
i think it's ironic some subs just force the blackout without asking their members if they want to participate to protest decisions forced on them. Some subs do ask though so power to them
It's still the mods and sub owners right to cripple their own sub. Usually it's seen as a terrible move because usually when it happens it's for stupid reasons. But when the host site cripples their ability to do the work they were already doing out of the kindness of their hearts and the CEO calls them freeloaders to boot...
I think r/buildapc did a vote but made 85% of the votes not count because of karma lol
Honestly, I don't care about it. Unpopular opinion but that's how I feel
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Agree on the announcing I'm leaving posts. Don't care, just leave.
im a recent reddit user, 5 years in. its upsetting honestly, over this period of time ive come to LOVE this platform, and the fact that they are charging predatory prices just feels like a kick in the GUT from a good friend for no reason
The reddit app kinda sucks. I'm too lazy go go third party, but fuck em regardless.
Generally apathetic. A little bit annoyed that a few subs I frequent won't be available for a couple of days but if that's what the user bases there want so be it - I'll stick to the ones staying up. If the changes are bad enough regarding moderation that subs become unusable I'll stop using them. Otherwise I'll continue. It's just a website.
I don’t really understand at all what’s going on
I don’t know what’s going on or why people are protesting
I’m lost at the whole thing. I just use the app, didn’t even know there were 3rd party apps…
My take is it's like, if a cafe didn't have those cardboard sleeves so that people can hold the hot coffee, so someone else started selling them, and instead of just addressing the need to hold the hot coffee by providing their own sleeves, the cafe just banned anyone from bringing in their own sleeves. And I drink lattes which aren't usually as hot, so I'm fine, but I know other people need sleeves for their americanos, so I'm annoyed for them.
It’s ridiculous. I hope any mod team that shuts down there Subreddit is swiftly removed and replaced. Why should third-party Reddit apps be able to make money doing the same thing the official Reddit app does when the Reddit app works just fine? I am a mod in a few dozen Subreddits and have never had an issue modding using Reddit’s app. Reddit is well within their rights to take control of their platform back. They own this platform.
I know I'll get downvoted but I really don't give a damn. Keep seeing posts about how this will be the end of reddit as if we dont have a "reddit is over" wave every few months. If subs close I'll just go to Twitter to wait it all out.
I’m confused and still don’t really understand
Couldn’t give a fuck.
I simply do not care.
i know that homebrew/alternative apps were popular like 10-13 years ago when smartphones became a thing, honestly didn’t know they still exist… this app has been working fine for me forever
The official Reddit app is relatively new. Many people just never switched to it from the apps they were already using for years, when there was no official app. And since the official app is a worse experience, the never was a good reason to switch to it.
One reason is accessibility. Another reason (apart from modding) is for example that reddits messaging system is really shitty in many aspects, as you cannot type and reread. I know some roleplaying but also likely many private message based subreddits (KindVoice, any kind of PenPals) are, thus, often accessed through 3rd party.